The construction industry is Australia's third-largest sector, employing around 9 per cent of the total workforce, according to an Ai Group survey. Meanwhile, the country's architecture sector is worth $7 billion, as reported by IbisWorld. With both these industries growing at a fast pace, let's take a look at how Advanced Business Manager's (ABM) accounting and business management software can help you at every stage of the building process, from design through to construction. Jobs and timesheetingAs billing for architecture services is usually measured by the amount of time spent on a project, accurate timesheeting software is essential. ABM differs to more standard timesheeting programs in that you can record the stage and rate at which a task is being completed, meaning more accurate time tracking. All staff can fill their own timesheets in on a daily basis, so your employees will be more aware of what they're contributing to a project. Likewise, accurate timesheeting is an essential part of construction, so you can better bill projects and pay your staff.

February saw Australia's manufacturing sector grow to its highest level since May 2002. The Australian Industry Group's monthly report showed an increase of 8.1 points to 59.3 on the country's Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI). This was the fifth consecutive month of expansion.A breakdown of the figuresThe PMI ranges from 0 to 100. A normal manufacturing level is considered to be 50, so anything above that figure indicates growth, with the distance between 50 and the month's overall PMI showing the extent of this expansion. The Australian PMI is broken down into eight separate categories - nonmetallic minerals, food and beverages, textiles and furniture, wood and paper, printing and recorded media, fuels and chemicals, metal products and, finally, machinery and equipment.Seven of these eight sub-sectors recorded growth in February. Nonmetallic minerals posted the highest PMI figure (66.3 points), followed by machinery and equipment (60.1 points) and food and beverages (58.8 points). The only sector to remain below 50 was printing and recorded media, which had 45.1 points. Wood and paper managed to recover to 51.9 points, having recorded shrinkage the previous month.